Net Force - Tom Clancy [83]
It didnt matter. This was just a short run to make a few minor adjustments on a legal scenario running in Canberra. The chances of Net Force seeing him were practically nil, and besides, there were a lot of blue Corvettes out there, probably tens of thousands of them.
He put the VR automobile into gear and pressed on the accelerator.
Saturday, October 2nd, 3:05 p.m. Washington, D.C.
When Belladonna Wright opened the door to let him in, the first thing Tyrone noticed was that she wore tight shorts and a baggy sweatshirt with the sleeves and neck cut out to reveal a lot of bare skin.
A lot of beautiful bare skin.
The second thing he noticed was the hulking form of Bonebreaker LeMott sitting on a couch in the living room behind Belladonna.
Tyrone was pretty sure his heart stopped for at least five seconds. Then his belly rose up and lodged in his throat. And his bowels and bladder both threatened to empty. The end was near.
Hi, Tyrone. Come in.
The voice of self-preservation couldnt even form words. It babbled and whimpered mindlessly.
His feet didnt seem to belong to him. They took him into the house.
Tyrone, this is my friend, Herbert LeMott. Motty, this is Tyrone.
Motty?! He would have laughed-except that he was sure that would be the last sound hed ever make through his own teeth.
Bonebreaker wore a tight T-shirt and cotton shorts that strained all their seams as he came off the couch. He had muscles on his muscles. He loomed like a human tyrannosaur; Tyrone expected to hear Godzillas shriek any second
But Bonebreakers voice was soft, quiet and actually fairly high-pitched. He said, Oh, wow, hey, Tyrone, glad to meet you. He extended his right hand.
Tyrone took the giant hand, and was amazed at how gentle the grip was.
He had a sudden image of a cartoon mouse looking for a thorn in a lions paw.
Its real nice of you to help Bella out with her computer class. I never was much good at that stuff. I appreciate it a lot. If I can ever do anything for you, just lemme know, okay?
If Bonebreaker had suddenly turned into a giant toad and begun hopping around looking for flies to eat, Tyrone could not have been anymore amazed. Holy shit!
Okay, Bella, I gotta go, we got practice at the gym. Ill call you later. He bent down-a long way for him-and kissed Bella on top of her head. She smiled and patted him on the back, as if he were a favorite horse. Okay. Be careful.
After Bonebreaker left, Bella must have seen something in his face, because she smiled at Tyrone. What, did you think Motty was going to get physical?
The thought briefly crossed my mind. Yeah, briefly-like a snail with a broken shell crawls over a salt flat briefly.
Motty is a big sweetie. He wouldnt step on an ant. My room is upstairs. Come on.
Unless the ant put its hand on your butt.
Still marveling over being alive, Tyrone followed Bella upstairs.
She had a standard home computer, and the VR gear was not top-of-the-line, but pretty decent. And it only took a few minutes for him to realize she was better at general systems than shed let on.
He said so.
She said, Well, Im okay on theory and real-time, but my network is slow.
You came to the right guy, then. You have another set of VR gear?
Right here.
Gear up. Lets walk the web. Well start on one of the big commercial nets-thats easy enough for anybody to do well.
Youre in charge, Tyrone.
Flushed with a sudden fearlessness, he took a leap: Call me Ty, he said.
Youre in charge, Ty.
She